POULTRY NOTES.

Western Star, Issue 2220, 8 July 1898, Page 3

POULTRY NOTES.

Breeding and Rearing Ducks.

From the Agricultural Gazette of N.S. W. + By J. J. MoCue, Poultry Expert, Hawkeabury Agricultural College. —» •■» liaising ducks for market is a very profitable branch of poultry-keeping. They can be raised more easily and with a less percentage of loss than chickens, besides always bringing a good uniform price the year round. All ducklings are fed for the first three or four days on hard-boiled infertile eggs. After the fourth day they are fed liberally on soft food, made up as follows :—pollard, corn-meal, and bran, in the proportion of 3 pollard to 1 bran (more bran if green -stuff scarce) and 1 corn-meal, mixed with boiling water. I always put a handful of sharp sand in the soft food for ducklings, while in the foster-mothers, aftor they are put in pens, shell-grit is always before them. Twice or three times a week meat, cooked to shreds, is mixed in the morning mash, the soup, or gravy, from the meat being used to mix food for other meals.

From experiments carried out side by side, I could not find much gain in using green food for ducklings till nftcr four or five weeks old. Of course, L used more bran in feed-mash when not feeding green-stuff, and less bran when feeding greenstuff. After the ducklings are four or five weeks old, I give greeu-food twice to four times a week, and to those ducklings I intend for breeders, daily or every other day. No duckling is allowed to swim in ponds till nearly feathered, all youngsters having a long brick and cement trough running through their pens; this long (80ft.) through is 4A inwide and in. deep, and is always running with clean water. • Ducklings do not require a large pond of water, shallow pans or troughs about 3 or four inches deep being sufficient. They should be carefully kept out of the rain for the first ten or twelve days. They also should bo kept penned while young ; if not, they ' run their legs off.' The hot sun has also an injurious effect on ducklings, more bo than chickens, their skulls being so much thinner. Four meals a day for the first five or six weeks is about the proper thing, and three' good meals afterwards till marketed.

Ducks should be marketed at nine to twelve weeks old, for soon sifter that the pin feathers begin to grow, when they go oil' in condition and become light. If the birds are not marketed at nine to twolve weeks, it means keeping them till they are four or four and a-half months old. During this pin-feather growth the birds will not puton weight, but just the opposite, unless you resort to forcing. Ducklings will stand confinement better than chickens, and always having a shark's appetite, are not dainty as to quality ; still, all ducks should be fed on clean, sound foods. It is a great mistake to feed a large quantity of food at a time, for what is left soon becomes sour, and becomes a mess of dirt after the ducklings trample and destroy it. Ducklings —tho same as chickens—should get as much food a 3 they will oat up clean, and no more.

Ducks, if properly fed and cared for, will bo as heavy at nine weeks as fowls nfc eighteen or twenty weeks, so it will be readily seen which grow the more quickly. To breed good ducks you must have good, large, vigorous parents, and of a well-known egg-producing strain. Ducks generally lay as many oggs in the year as fowls, but they perform the work quickly and rest the remainder of the year while the hen spreads her laying throughout the year. In selecting birds for breeding, it has always been a lirßt principle with me—as it should be with others—to keep only the very choicest, either in the animal or the vegetable kingdom, for the reproduction of its species. Poultry deteriorate more quickly, through natural causes, than most other animals. Many duck and fowl breeders say that it is absolutely necessary to introduce fresh blood each yenr. I say not, esptcially in the cnse of ducks. I have watched, and carefully made experiments, and found that inbreeding, managed properly, is beneficial. When I use the word'' in-breeding,' I don't mean that you should mate as close as brother and sister ; but where you have a flock, or two flocks of breeding ducks wiih, say, five or srx unrelated drakes in each flock, you can pick out what number of largo young drakes you wish to keep for breeding purposes. Mate these with the old ducks, and the old drakes with the young ducks you have picked for breeding. In this manner you can go on for a few years without fresh blood. Which is the best: breed of ducks to keep for profit is a question often asked ; I sty pure-bred Pekin. Ist, because it is the best layer; 2nd, it will grow quicker, and be heavier in ten weeks than oither the Aylesbury or Rouen. Mr. James Rankin says of this great breed : ' 1 have experimented carefully during the last, twenty years with all the larger breeds, crossing them in every conceivable way to obtain the best results, and 1 am perfectly satisfied with the Pekins. [ have got through experimenting, and as I raise 10,000 ducklings yearly, can hardly afford to guess at it, as 1 cent, per bird makes a difference of 50 dollars in my receipts—l cent, per pound a difference of over 3000 dollars. It is readily seen that I can only afford to use the bird that will grow the greatest number of pounds of flesh in the shortest space of time. Nor is that all. It must be the bird that will give you the first eggs ot the season, as this will enable you to get early birds for market, which means more profit. ' The Pekin is the only bird that will cover all theso points. It has two slight defects its extreme timidity and its heavy, coarse voice, which it does not scruple to use when congregated in large numbers. The former can be easily overcome by careful management. But to set off these defects the Pekin will not only produce the early eggs of the season, but by far the greatest number of any other breeds. They mature earlier, are more hardy and domestic in their habits, never wandering far, and always returning to their coops at night. The minimum weight of our birds when matured is about 14 lb., while the heaviest will tip the scales at 20 lb. per pair.' In my experience with Pekins 1 found them with all the good qualities that Mr. Rankin records of them. And further, I have placed good breeding pens of Pekins, Aylesbury, and Rouens side by side and always got the best results from the Pekins. The Aylesbury and Rouus do not lay as well as as the Pekin, neither does the Itouen or Aylesbury grow as quickly.

i Keeping the three breeds of ducklings | (of same age) side by side shows the j quickness of growth of the Pekins. To give my readers an idea of weights of good Pekins, I copy from an advertisement in Farm Poultry (an American poultry journal) the following : Ducks—' Will close out tho 9 and 10 lb. drakes sit. 4 and 5 dollars each. The price of the 11, 12, and 13 lb. drakes with ducks to match will be given on application.—A. J. Hallock 1 ' The abovo will give my readers an idea of what good Pekin9 can be grown. I expect to have a pen of these heavy Pekins out from America for the coming season, and will publish in Agricultural Gazette their laying qualities, growth, weighf, &c.

Also, from the above journal, I give the numbers of ducklings raised by some of the big duck men in season 1897 : Webber Bros., 18,000 ducks ; Rankin, 15,000 ; Fairacies' Farm, 13,000 , A. J. Malloclv, 10,000; Pollard Bros., 10,000. The above will give an idea of the production of some of the duck farms in America. When will five duck raisers in New South Wales turn out 06,000 ducks in a season ? I cannot see any obstacle in the way to prevent it—in fact we are more favored in climate than many of the above duck farms. The infertility of early duck eggs seems to be the ' rock ' with moßt duck raisers, but if they feed and care for their ducks properly, and of course ' mate ' properly, they will not have so many infertile eggs. The proper number of ducks to a drake early in the season should be four or five, later in the season, when ducks are easing of duty, eight, or even ten, ducks to a drake.